Everyday I Write the Book

You folks are on here doing this, each and every day, aren't you? God bless your little souls. Some of the books are sad; some happy. Some are so well-written that it's hard to believe that you're giving them away for free. Of course, some of them are so shabby that it's hard to believe you're letting us see it before it's "done." But everyone is trying in their own peculiar way, aren't they?

This concept of writing the book each and every day has never been expressed better, in my humble opinion, than by Elvis Costello on his Punch the Clock album back in 1983.

I've tried to get a couple of folks on this site interested in Elvis Costello. These are folks who are too young to have really understood the contribution that the boy made to what's known as punk or alternative music. Of course, now it sounds a lot like anything but . . . But that is to downplay the huge impact Costello had on the scene as a whole.

I still doubt if there's been a better lyricist in the past 20 years. Costello could put together a few lines of song as well as Cole Porter ever did. The play on words gets a bit heavy-handed when it's bad, but when it's good, it's perfect.

His backup bands were always crucial to his efforts. I saw him play in Memphis just after Imperial Bedroom came out, and it was fantastic. That piano player he had with him was a genius. The piano player on this song on the album is Steve Nieve, and I am not sure if it's the same guy or not. I do know that it's the way the piano licks in this song interact with the dynamic bass lines that makes it work. Of course, this album was produced by Allen Toussaint, and you should know who that is and why it's a good thing.

Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book